Introduction and Inspiration

The Bible is an incredible book where we can actually meet the God of the universe. He reveals Himself to us as we read with open hearts sincerely wanting to know the truth. The Bible consists of 66 books written by over 40 authors on 3 continents during a period of about 2,000 years… yet it all comes together as one book. There is better manuscript evidence for the Bible than for any other ancient book. Compared with other books, we have more copies and pieces of copies and they go back much closer to the time of the original writers. Some say that it was written by men and men make mistakes, so it cannot be trusted. That is a ridiculous argument. We trust and use documents every daywhich were written by men. In addition, 2Timothy 3:16 says that all scripture is “God-breathed,” or “inspired by God.” Jesus told His twelve disciples that the Holy Spirit would remind them of everything that He had said to them (John 14:26). All through the Bible there are records of God speaking to people, and people saying that they are speaking for God. GotQuestions.org has a great section on “What does it mean that the Bible is inspired?”

 

Old Testament and New Testament

The sixty-six books of the Bible are divided into two parts. There is the Old Testament, which consists of 39 books which were written before the time of Jesus the Messiah, and were written mostly in Hebrew. The New Testament consists of 27 books which were written in Greek after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah opened the door for anyone to come to God in faith and enter into a personal relationship with God. For this reason, I recommend that new believers begin by reading the New Testament, especially the stories of Jesus life written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The New Testament contains many “epistles,” which were letters to churches and individuals written by men who knew Jesus and had been called by him. These letters teach about God’s salvation through Jesus, and how we should live. There is also the historical book, the Acts of the Apostles, and the prophetic book, The Revelation, which foretells events, many of which are still future.

Reading the Old Testament is also profitable. The Old Testament tells the history of God calling the Jewish people to trust Him and to show the whole world the wisdom and righteousness of God. The Jews failed in many ways to trust God and to tell other nations about Him, but the Old Testament shows God’s love and patience with the Jews. The historical books of the Old Testament and the words of the prophets teach us much about the character of God and His plans for the world.

Unique among the books of the Old Testament are Psalms and Proverbs. The Psalms were originally songs expressing the feelings of the writer and crying out to God for His help. Most of the Proverbs were written by Solomon, a very wise king of Israel, and they give wise counsel for real, everyday life in this world. Most books of the Bible should be read all the way through in order to properly understand them. On the other hand, each chapter of Psalms and Proverbs can stand alone. When you want to just read the Bible for a few minutes, reading just one Psalm or Proverb can be a meaningful experience. 

About five-hundred years ago the Bible was divided into chapters and verses to make it easier to find and talk about specific passages. For example, John 3:16 would mean the Gospel of John, chapter 3 and verse 16.

 

History and Miracles

The first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1, says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” If we believe that this is true, then we should not have any trouble believing the rest of the book. Our Creator could be expected to watch over the written account of His dealings with mankind. He would have no trouble doing what we think of today as miracles. For Him to part the waters of the Red Sea, walk on water, heal the sick, or raise Jesus from the dead is no problem! Reading the Bible will bring many questions to your mind, but there are answers for all of those questions.

One of the areas where there has been much struggle and debate is concerning the origin of life. Some people believe that all life evolved from non-life, while the Bible teaches that God created all living things for His glory. Sadly, most people today have been brainwashed into thinking that scientific evidence supports evolution. In reality, the straight layers of sedimentary rock all over the earth show that they were laid down quickly by a huge flood. If this was true, there would also be remains of dead animals, which were covered by the mud, all over the earth. It is no surprise that we find fossils of dead animals all over the earth.

Many scientists throughout the centuries have believed in God and the Bible. In the last two hundred years, scientists have tried to explain the existence of life without the existence of God. Charles Darwin is famous for his theory of evolution. Darwin used the crude microscopes of his day to look at living cells. They looked very simple, like a circle with a dot in the center. In his book, Origin of the Species, he said that, if we ever find out that cells are actually complex, then life arising by chance would be impossible. Today, we know that a single living cell is as complex as a whole city. In the twentieth century, scientist Sir Fred Hoyle calculated that the odds of, not a whole animal, but a single protein arising by chance as one in ten to the forty-thousandth power. This is approximately the same chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 fueled and ready to fly! Believing that God created the heavens and the earth and every living thing actually takes a lot less faith. If we approach the Bible with an open mind and faith in God, we will find answers for all of our questions.